Ron Smith, a veteran and an accomplished musician, has produced, co-produced, written and played for some of the greatest artist of our time. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, he started his professional career with First Choice ("Armed & Extremely Dangerous"). Ron then went on to join the electrifying Patti LaBelle as she embarked upon her solo career.
He later came to the San Francisco Bay Area and was immediately recruited by the legendary Maze featuring Frankie Beverly . Ron who was nicknamed "Inspiration" by Frankie on the "Joy and Pain" album had a lot of influence on tunes like "Changing Times", "Southern Girl", and "Family". This album with Ron's soulful, tasteful & scintillating solos along with the addition of two other members, Billy Johnson (drums) and Philip Woo (keyboards) took the Maze sound to a new level. With Maze, Ron also recorded "Live In New Orleans", "We Are One", and "Back To Basics".
Ron moved on to play with his Overbrook High School classmate & band mate from the First Choice days, jazz saxophonist the late George Howard. Ron's recording with George included, his debut album "Asphalt Gardens", "Love Will Find a Way", "Love Will Follow", "Personal", and his final "Theres A Riot Going On". Ron holds a unique distinction from all of the various musicians that George used on his records. Ron was the only one to play on his sorely missed friends first and last record before his untimely passing. Ron also co-wrote "It Cant Be Forever" on George's "Love Will Follow" cd.
He also co-wrote with Michael White the title song for one of his musical idols George Benson's GRP debut cd "That"s Right". "That's Right" topped Billboards jazz chart at number 1 for 3 consecutive weeks. Added to the music above is the original demo for "That's Right", which was written in about 20 minutes and the least favored of the three songs submitted to Geroge, it became the title track.
Rhythm Logic was one of Ron's next stops. The band consisted of musicians Michael White (drums), Brian Simpson (keyboards), and Dwayne Smitty Smith (bass). Two projects were recorded, "Logically Speaking" and "Sweet Talk". Other artist he's recently recorded with are Paul Taylor "Speak Easy" and Wavelength .Ron has also produced Spoken Word artist Curtis V .
